India can be divided into eight Flora in Different Floristic Regions, namely, the western Himalayas, the eastern Himalayas, Assam, the Indus plain, the Ganga plain, the Deccan, Malabar, and the Andamans. The Western Himalayan region extends from Kashmir to Kumaon.

Flore in India

  • India is rich in flora or plant diversity. India is placed in the tenth position in the world and fourth in Asia in plant diversity.
  • Botanical Survey of India has been actively engaged in the taxonomic study of all major groups of Indian plants. According to the Botanical Survey of India, of 70 percent geographical area surveyed so far, 47,000 species of plants have been identified
  • Of total species, the vascular flora comprises 15,000 species and more than 35 percent is endemic.
  • With a wide range of climatic conditions from the torrid to the arctic, India has rich and varied vegetation, which only a few countries of, comparable size possess.
  • This constitutes Angiosperms (17,450), Gymnosperms (65), Pteridophytes (1,200), Bryophytes (2,426), Lichens (2,180), Fungi (14,500), Algae (6,500), and Bacteria (850), which accounts for about 7 percent of the total plant species of the world.
  • About 28 percent of the Indian plants are endemic to the country.

Flora in Different Floristic Regions

The Indian flora is mainly concentrated in three major centers of floristic diversity viz.,

  • the Himalayas,
  • the Western Ghats and
  • Andaman & Nicobar Islands

The above regions are part of four of the thirty-four identified ‘global biodiversity hotspots’, viz.,

  • Himalayas
  • Western Ghats and Sri Lanka
  • Indo Burma (NE India and the Andaman Islands), and
  • Sundaland (Nicobar Islands)

India can be again divided into eight distinct-floristic-regions, namely, the western Himalayas, the eastern Himalayas, Assam, the Indus plain, the Ganga plain, the Deccan, Malabar and the Andamans.

Challenges

  • Many Indian florae are facing extinction due to the destruction of forests for agricultural, industrial, and urban development.
  • Nearly 1,336 plant species are identified as vulnerable and endangered.
  • About 20 species of higher plants are categorized as possibly extinct as these have not been sighted during the last 6-10 decades.
  • Botanical Survey of India (BSI) brings out an inventory of endangered plants in the form of a publication titled Red Data Book.

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